Autonomous driving firm Autobrains eyes robotaxi growth in Europe, CEO says

FRANKFURT, June 30 (Reuters) - Europe is an emerging but promising market for self-driving 'robotaxis', with the technology set to become far more visible across the region over the next two years, the CEO of Israeli autonomous driving firm Autobrains said on Tuesday.

"I think 2026 and 2027 is going to be an inflection point for Europe in terms of robotaxis," Igal Raichelgauz told the Reuters Automotive Europe conference in Frankfurt.

Autobrains, which is based in Tel Aviv and has an office in Munich, is developing lower-cost autonomous driving technology built around so-called agentic AI, which it says reduces reliance on expensive sensors and computing power, a key obstacle to scaling self-driving systems.

Raichelgauz said the company is focused on Europe and Southeast Asia rather than the United States, where rivals including Waymo and Tesla are already active.

In June, Autobrains announced a partnership with Uber to launch a robotaxi programme in Munich using U.S. chipmaker Nvidia's Hyperion platform.

Munich is expected to be the first deployment city, subject to regulatory approval.

Raichelgauz said Europe offers the advantage of being close to major automakers, as Autobrains also seeks to expand in the passenger vehicle market. BMW's headquarters are in Munich.

He said Europe's regulatory framework sets "the highest bar" for autonomous driving.

"If we reach it there, we can reach it everywhere," he said.

(Reporting by Rachel More. Editing by Mark Potter)